Feeling artistic photo gallery

"Live fast, love hard, die young..."

Just a note to say that I have observed that my children's generation does everything on steroids. Everything is over the top these days. And I mean everything. They can't just decorate their house for Christmas. No, it has to have a theme. It has to be all out. They all watch HGTV and the food channels. I haven't found many in that generation that don't. And everything has to beat their friends, neighbors, whoever. It's all a competition now. No one can sit back and be simple. Life just moves really fast these days, and no one just relaxes. It reminds me of an old movie quote, "Live hard, die young and be a good-looking corpse" or something like that.

I tried to tell my 30 something co-worker today how life used to be so much simpler and easier and less stressful 30 years ago. No one was struggling like they do now or worrying like they are now. When I started my first job in advertising in Dallas in the late 70's, the question was, "Would you like a full page or a double-truck?" (sigh) Life was so sane back then, and not because I was younger. It's like the earth is spinning faster and faster. I feel like we're on a merry-go-round that is speeding up rather than slowing down. Like you want to throw up. I just long for more relaxed times when you could go outside and play. When you had time to stare at the stars. When everything wasn't a stupid contest to beat someone else. I wonder if they are happier in third world countries where they don't have all of this stress? We've become so independent here in America, we're all living in separate houses, trying to connect with electronics. Maybe in Africa they are all running free. I don't know. I just think it's gone too far.

It's like we need a reset button...

"What the world needs now, is love, sweet. love..."

In looking at today's headlines, it's real easy to get discouraged... I guess that's true every day. But 2 of the biggest stories are the man that had a heart attack at a Target during the Black Friday rush, and people just stepped over him. Finally a nurse gave the man CPR, but he died on his way to the hospital. Or how about the wife that knew her husband was molesting boys and did nothing. And ESPN knew about it but sat on the story for 9 years. Or how about Herman Cain having yet another woman saying she had an affair with him for 13 years....I could go on all night.

But here's the point I want to make. The more God is removed from our society, the more we will hear these types of stories. We took God and prayer out of the schools and the schools are failing miserably. We removed most censorship in media and have the most absolute lack of civility we have ever had.

And we can argue politics "til the cows come home" but until someone's heart is changed, they aren't going to change their minds. Conservatives are people of faith. Our actions stem from what we believe. All of us. If you believe in the Ten Commandments, then you believe that murder will send you to hell. And it causes you to have a fear of God. And when you love God with all of your heart, you want to please Him, as you would the love of your life.

When you don't believe in God, you don't fear eternal damnation, and you don't have a love for other people. The only way I can explain someone, lots of people, walking OVER someone in Target who has just had a heart attack, is someone with no soul. No love. No compassion. They have a black heart.

It used to be in this country that most people had faith but this is changing rapidly. And if we don't watch out, we will become like the French or even the Chinese. It is our faith that has made this country one of heroes - one of givers - and one of leaders.

This country and it's people need Jesus. He's the only one that can take a black heart and turn it pure as snow. For too long Christians have sat in the back seat in America. We have slowly allowed our freedoms to be taken away. In my small town we have an atheist mayor who wanted to remove the nativity scene from our downtown. It took a private group of 45 people to insist that we have one (as we always have) and it had to be from private donations. You have to start with the small battles.

When you read in 1st Corinthians, it says "the greatest of these is love." Without love, the rest of it is just stuff. We need to have love and we need to show love. We need to be unselfish and do the opposite of what the world tells us. The world says to look out for number one, but God says put someone else's needs before your own. He promises to take care of us. We don't have to worry. Start today. Do something nice for someone and not because there is an ulterior motive. Do it as a gift - a gift that doesn't have to be repaid. It starts with us, we CAN turn this nation around with God's help.

One person at a time...

"It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you."

Just read that an 8 year old boy from Ohio has been taken away from his mother and put in foster care. Why, you ask? Because he is overweight... He weighs 215 lbs.

This makes me nauseous. Now we have the weight police taking children from mothers? The article says they want to hire a personal trainer to go to the foster home. Why couldn't it be to his mother's home and keep him with someone who loves him? The state agency says the mother isn't doing enough to control his weight. But the mother said she has worked hard to get her son to shed pounds. She just hasn't been able to get him to keep it off. His mother told the Plain Dealer newspaper, "Of course I love him. Of course I want him to lose weight. It's a lifestyle change, and they are trying to make it seem like I am not embracing that. It is very hard, but I am trying." And Arthur Caplan (a University of Pennsylvania ethicist) told the Plain Dealer, "A third of kids are fat. We aren't going to move them all to foster care. We can't afford it and I'm not sure there are enough foster parents to do it."

Wake up my friends, look what is happening...

"Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal."

In my effort to be positive today, you may have already seen this, but I found this to be the most inspiring thing I can say this morning.

It is a story of a journalist for ABC's 20/20, Kimberly Launier, who was interviewing the parents of a fallen soldier from New Hampshire, Justin Rollin. They were playing with their son's dog, Hero, whose rescue from the Iraq War zone where their son died, was a story all it's own. As she was filming them with the dog, the mother would hug Hero and say, "Justin, are you in there?" It was her way of remembering their son and his last living connection to Hero. At one point, Hero wandered off and took a stroll in their backyard. All of a sudden, the clouds broke and a light began to solidify in a beam directly down on Hero in a kind of vertical halo. When this happened, the mother turned to look at Kimberly, and they both were in astonishment. Kimberly said she couldn't wait to play it back to make sure if her camera caught the stunning beam (which you can see, untouched, not photoshopped above.) When she saw that it did, she was so happy that she burst out dancing, and said it was a great moment to share with Justin's parents. They all laughed and wondered if it was a sign from Justin. I think yes, a sign from God, telling them Justin is with Him, watching from heaven.

I think we're all in the need for signs from above lately...

Black Friday 2011 police brutality buckeye arizona

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it..."

Thanksgiving. A time when we reconnect with our extended family and make the most delicious meal of the year. A time when we pause to reflect on all of the many, many, MANY blessings that God has bestowed upon us. Unless you are the president of the United States.

Today, Thanksgiving day, our president gave his radio address thanking 'pilgrims, pioneers, and patriots.' He called Thanksgiving a 'celebration of community.' But he left out the most important thing - the reason for the season - God.

If you're not thanking God, you are denying where the blessings are actually coming from. You're missing the whole point. Or as one pastor pointed out today, "To give thanks for luck is to deny God."

Maybe that's why things aren't getting any better...

"Say it ain't so...."

Tomorrow, the last rivalry will be played with the University of Texas Longhorns and the Texas A&M Aggies. Unless you're a Texan, there is no way you could understand...

Every Thanksgiving in my memory, the Longhorns have played the Aggies and the Cowboys play the the Redskins. It's what is on in the background in most Texan households as the women cook and catch up with family, and the men sit around and watch football. It's what we DO. Even both school fight songs mention the other school...

I don't understand what happened. All I know is that the Aggies got jealous and wanted out of the division we've always played in. And that is all. Just like that. A lifetime of rivalry is over.

Coming from a LONG line of Longhorns (my father, mother, aunt, uncle, grandfather, brother, sister, cousins), I can remember my father saying when I was very young, "Don't pick your nose, only Aggies do that," (and he wasn't kidding.) He also said I could go to any college I wanted to, but the only one he would pay for was UT (persuasive man, he was.) My father didn't miss a home game after he graduated until he had a stroke. And we had to tiptoe through the family room if there was a UT game on. And if we lost? Stay away from him the rest of the day.

We bleed burnt orange in our family so it is so strange to be looking at the last UT - A&M game EVER. I had a standing bet every year with the resident Aggie at my last job, and it was truly the day we set aside our friendship because we are both that loyal to our alma maters. As a matter of fact, his very nice wife (also an A&M graduate) told HER daughter that is my daughter's age, that she was afraid if DD went to UT, she would go to hell like all the other UT graduates.

Yes, the indoctrination on both sides starts young in Texas - usually with one of the first baby gifts being an outfit for the corresponding college. There are bumper stickers that say "a house divided" if you have family members that go to both schools. And at Texas weddings, usually both of the school songs are played, and the room divides in two, with each side yelling bragging rights. My 14 year old will not be able to truly understand this Texas tradition. After this year, I don't know WHAT we will do on Thanksgiving.

Maybe the world really IS ending next year...

"Follow the yellow brick road..."

Last week, Karl Slover, one of the last surviving actors who played Munchkins in the 1939 classic film, "The Wizard of Oz," died at the age of 93. Slover, 4-foot-5, was one of the tiniest male Munchkins and appeared at Wizard of Oz festivals around the country. Only 3 remain of the 124 actors who played Munchkins in the movie.

Sigh. Yet more people from my childhood, passing on...

Like many Baby Boomers, "The Wizard of Oz" was a huge influence in my life and is still one of my favorite movies. Since there were no DVD players back then, (or cable for that matter) we had to wait once a year until one of the networks would play it. It was a big event. As a child, I would love the adrenaline of the tornado in the beginning or the sight of the green wicked witch with her evilness. I still have a penchant for hourglasses, when Dorothy was under duress, and the concept of time hit me for the first time as a child, seeing the sands passing through quickly. There was so much of that movie that is a metaphor for life... Personally I still see myself as Dorothy following the yellow brick road of life, trying to get to Oz.

So tonight I just want to pause and mark the passing of one of the last Munchkins.

And the sands through the hourglass are piling higher and higher...

"Frogs and snails, and puppy dog tails..."

Call me old-fashioned, but I think a lot of women sports are making women much more masculine these days. Yes, I'm a Baby Boomer, and I know this current generation wasn't around to see what it was like 'back in the day' but I DO know that both of my daughters have hated sports for the most part. They liked to get the exercise and enjoyed getting to know other girls on the team better, but the non-stop competing wasn't appealing. Too, coaches act like, well, coaches - which can be really irritating. As a mother, I've tried to encourage more girly activities like dancing and cheerleading. But in our small town in Texas, as all other small towns in Texas, sports rules the schools. They could care less about academics, but will place all importance on all things sports, and of course, the most on football.

But as I look at Facebook posts of many of my daughter's friends, the sporty girls are looking (and acting) more like men. They are getting deeper voices, they act like men when they win and bump chests, and go around calling themselves "Beast..." Once again, it seems the pendulum has swung too far the other way with women.

I will never think it's okay for women to fight wars on the front lines. Or play high school (or older) football. Or to dress or act like a man. I find it sad that my 14 year old is afraid that when she grows up that half of eligible men will be gay, and the pool of available (straight) men will be very small to choose from.

Why has everything changed so quickly.....

"The early bird gets the worm?"

Occupy Best Buy??
Just read that in St. Petersburg, Florida, there are 10 people who started a line for Best Buy's Black Friday specials two weeks early... They pitched a tent in front of the store and are waiting to be first ones in for the specials after Thanksgiving.

Can this be more irritating?? Shouldn't there be rules about this sort of thing? Shouldn't the store say the line can't start forming until 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. the night before?

As I recall, last year (or was it the year before?) in New York's poorer areas, a man was killed when he was trampled as the doors opened at a Wal-Mart. So really, are these deals worth lives? Are they even worth waiting in line for 2 weeks? Is this what our country has been reduced to?? Are we really that pathetic??

I think we already know the answer...

"Monkey say, monkey do"

Just in time for Christmas, the talking doll that says, "Okay, you crazy bitch." (Listen yourself to hear it.) Evidently some are asking for Toys R Us to remove the doll, but they refuse. They say if it's offensive to some, they can return it.

Unbelievable...

"Another one bites the dust..."

Yes, another icon... retired... Regis Philbin is yet another high profile media figure that has been around for my entire life. It's hard to believe he's 80 years old, when he looks better than the majority of those in their fifties. I remember him most with Kathie Lee Gifford, who my family finds completely annoying, but I totally disagree. I think she's darling and entertaining and hysterical! She was wonderful with "Reeg" and I was sad when she left too. To me, "Live with Regis and Kelly" never had the same ring - or chemistry for that matter. Their age difference was too much to relate well to each other, and he always seemed annoyed with Kelly. Personally I felt the same way.

Anyway.

I'm going to miss Regis, even though I was always at work when he came on. Just knowing he was there was comforting. Like the sun coming up, there are familiar faces in our lives that just ought to always be there.

I'll miss you Regis....

"Everybody uses everybody, don't they.."

Tonight (a school night) is the premier of the continuing Twilight saga, "Breaking Dawn." It starts at midnight all over America. And, like all of the other midnight premieres on school nights, I have said no to my 14 year old daughter going. It's a school night, and I'm not going to get sucked in to this crap. About half of the girls she knows are going tonight, and the other half will go tomorrow night at a decent hour. I'm letting DD go to that one....

Just another symptom in America... who can do it first... who can go at midnight on a school night and get out at 2 am and get 4 hours sleep (or less) and brag at school about how cool they think they were to see it first. That's one of the problems with this generation -- they think they have to beat each other to the punch -- in just about everything. They compete who can do the most sports activities in school, they compete about who gets the most girl or boyfriends, and they compete about who is the skinniest or has the most money or most electronics. They have no real friends. It's just about using someone. And look at the bullying situation. It's out of control all over this country. This generation has no soul and the few that do, get bullied. It's eat or be eaten. We've taken our eye off of the ball. We've lost all perspective. We've lost the reason for the season. We've got greedy people just looking out for themselves, and we have greedy kids marching Wall Street thinking they're entitled to have things given to them. Both sides are at fault, and equally so. And the middle class are the ones that keep on keeping on. The rich are just fine thankyouverymuch and the poor get to take advantage of non-stop freebies. It's those of us in the middle who go to our jobs and don't get to take vacations and try to keep our head above water every day. That's what it feels like, treading water. And the hope is that the current will get better.

And the alternative is that we will lose all of our strength and go under...

Sophia Grace's Show Stopping Performance!

"Go with your gut..."

Just read the transcript of Gloria Cain with Greta Van Sustern, after watching part of it last night. Something just doesn't seem right... Don't get me wrong. I like Herman Cain and I like his ideas. I think he's a very strong man, and must be to even be in the top contenders for Republican candidate for president.

But something just doesn't add up.... When you are in top positions, and you get accused of sexual harrassment by several women, it looks like you would talk to your wife about it. A lot. But Gloria knew very little about the accusations, and the money settlement was never mentioned. That does not seem normal. At all.

Herman and Gloria seem to have a very old school relationship. Granted they are in their mid-Sixties and times were different back in the day. But they don't seem very close and certainly don't seem like they are even good friends. She seemed clueless about all of the charges - not dumb, but very uninformed about it. I could tell he certainly wears the pants in the family, and she is the proverbial 50's mom, like June Cleaver. And their children seem very well-behaved and almost too polite. Not in a bad way, but how children act when the father is somewhat over-bearing. I can recognize that sort of behavior, having come from a similar situation. My father also wore the pants in the family, and we were well-behaved knowing the consequences if we weren't. Herman Cain is an ambitious man, but something is just not quite right.

And as I have mentioned, my gut never fails me...

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away."

Healthcare has GOT to be fixed in this country.... It's completely broken.

Personally, having had breast cancer and tachocardia, no one would insure me. I had left my previous job and was going to become a realtor, and then the bottom fell out of real estate. I tried every insurance company possible, but they all said no. In Texas, when no one else will insure you, Governor Rick Perry made sure that those people can get into the Texas Risk Pool but it was terribly expensive ($700 per month, and was going up substantially.) I had to stay on that until my current job finally purchased health insurance, and only 2 of us are on it.

Today my son found out he is being rejected from a personal policy due to his anxiety problems. In 2004 he was fine. He was engaged to be married, had a good job, and was healthy. Then he got his wisdom teeth out. Within a day, he was having anxiety attacks, which quickly got worse and ended up in what they used to call a nervous breakdown. We went to doctor after doctor, but nothing worked. He lost his job, his fiance, and his money. Finally a clinic in Dallas helped in prescribing the right medicine, and two years later he went back to work. He was fired from his job a few months ago and could not afford the Cobra coverage. So with recent 'plumbing' problems, he ended up at a specialist and ultimately the emergency room for 3 hours. He got the bill today.... $9,000. That's right. $3,000 an hour. Or $50 per minute. Yes, they did do a catscan and bloodwork, but NINE THOUSAND DOLLARS??!! That's completely ridiculous. And he's unemployed and has no insurance.

Hospitals and doctors have become very greedy. In my day, doctors made house calls and seemed to genuinely care. No more. The vast majority are in it to get rich quick. My son couldn't get any of them to spend more than 5 minutes with him. Plus, all doctors know how to do is give you a pill or cut something out. I ultimately convinced my son to drive to my small town so they would give him more time, but I know more than that doctor did. But then, I did when he had his breakdown too. I researched and researched, and learned he has panic disorder. He had all the symptoms. It's what they finally came up with.

All that to say that we're all screwed. How can we ever turn this debaucle around???

"Rarely do great beauty and great virtue dwell together."

Have you EVER heard that any of the First Ladies have makeup artists?? Ones that will fly to DC and charge $15,000 a day (not to mention, MAN, am I in the wrong business...) Well, Michelle Obama does. The article I read today said that Derrick Rutledge, who made a name for himself by working on other black women (Patti LaBelle, Chaka Khan, Beyonce and Mo'Nique) received a call from one of Michelle's assistants asking if he wanted to audition to be her makeup artist. He initially thought it was a joke. Rutledge says he was summoned to the White House to prepare Michelle Obama for a St. Patrick's Day dinner. Two years later, Rutledge is Michelle's main makeup artist. (She has others??) Rutledge says when the White House summons him, he flies to Washington, even if it is just for a day or two. Evidently Oprah Winfrey saw Michelle's Time Magazine cover in 2009, and told the Washington Post, "I said to myself: Who did that (her makeup)? 'The first lady comes first. When she doesn't need him, I get second dibs.'

PLEASE tell me my tax dollars are not paying for Michelle's makeup artistry and plane tickets...

PLEASE....

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder..."

After spending a bazillion dollars on braces for DD, she is almost ready to have them removed in just 2 more months. Her orthodontist relayed to us that she is in his "top ten" of worst teeth he's ever worked on. Indeed, when she was younger, the kids at school were mean and would make fun of them, making her only want to smile the "Mona Lisa" smile. So as I'm reading internet stories this morning, a trend in Japan just caught my eye.... to make your teeth more CROOKED??

Yes, it seems that Japanese women are going gaga for a crowded, crooked-toothed smile with accentuated canine teeth, known as the 'yaeba' look. Tokyo dentists say this cosmetic procedure involves attaching non-permanent adhesive mini-fangs to canine teeth. Yaeba means double tooth and is an attempt at making a smile more child-like replicating the odd alignment of smiles affected by delayed baby teeth. Dentists are also hearing that it's a response to the (vampire) Twilight movies...

Ugh. At least they aren't permanent...

What the Heck Fridays

Normally I like to do something fun and light for What the Heck Fridays, but I am scratching my head at the whole Penn State debaucle... How can SO MANY PEOPLE look the other way?? How can this entire chain of command of people not report this to the police?? A few weeks ago I posted a very disturbing video in China of running over a toddler, twice, and it taking 12-15 people passing her before someone even dragged her out of the street. There was justifiable outrage at the lack of morals. Hello?? This is dangerously close to that way of thinking...

Penn State, in the name of the almighty dollar, swept this horrid affair under the carpet while allowing these helpless boys to be sodomized?? I completely agree that Joe Paterno and the university president have been fired, and think ANYONE that knew and did not report this should also be fired. 

It's a sad day for our country to see such a terrible decay of morals...

"He that will learn to pray, let him go to sea."

There is no way you can understand the seriousness of this photo unless you've been in a huge wave. This was Russian Roulette. This was a gamble with his life. This was a 50/50 chance that this surfer, this VERY experienced surfer from Hawaii that travels the world over in search of killer waves, would even LIVE through this gynormous 90 ft. (about 9 stories) wave in Portugal.

One of the closest times I've beaten death was in Acapulco just after I graduated from high school. I was with several families and it was the rainy season, and unbeknownst to us, there was a typhoon off of the coast. We, being stupid kids, decided to go swimming. The storm came in with a fury and sucked us out to sea. The undertow kept us out, and I used up all of my energy trying to get back in. That's when the waves became 3 stories high, and as these massive waves were forming so completely high (and thick) all I could do was try to dive through them. Having gone to the beach every weekend from Spring break to Labor Day, I have a great respect for the ocean and am an experienced swimmer. But my energy soon wore out, and these killer waves would pick me up and drop me, and I would roll and roll and roll, until I lost all breath and didn't know which was was up, literally. I remember thinking that I was going to die, and it would be a pretty painless death. Then my miracle happened. One of they guys we were with, who had been on the swim team, somehow found me, and got me to the shore. I was so out of all energy, I had to lie there in the rain and muster my last bit of life to even move.

This wave was 3 times bigger and the surfer beat a new world record in riding it.

Was it worth risking his life for??

"Be careful of the words you say, keep them short and sweet. You never know, from day to day, which ones you'll have to eat."

Yes, I watched the Republican candidate debate tonight but didn't really learn anything new. I was glad to see that they weren't attacking each other this time and I am most grateful for that...

Poor Rick Perry... He really is a smart man with wonderful morals who has been a fabulous leader for Texas -- but he cannot debate. He gets the "deer in the headlights" look (as we say here in Texas) and just isn't quick with his answers. Or, in this case tonight, can't even remember his own plan. Unfortunately he won't be voted for if no one trusts that he can win a debate against Obama next year, and I wish that wasn't the case. Romney has diplomatic answers but I just don't like him. Newt is intelligent and a great debater, but just isn't likeable. Bachmann is sharp as a tack but I don't think she's right for president. And Cain was on his game but I'm wondering if all of the accusations have brought enough doubt for the moderates to dislike him. Ron Paul makes some very good points, but he comes off as a bit of a loose cannon, and if elected, couldn't do 5% of what he says. I wish all of our primaries were the same day -- and soon.

If the election were today, I think I'd vote for Cain...

"I will bless those that bless you and curse those that curse you." - Genesis 12:3

You've probably heard by now that the microphones at the G20 were still on, so here it is FIVE days later, and we're finding out that the French prime minister, Sarkozy, said he could not stand Israel's Netanyahu, and that he's a liar. Obama responded, "You're sick of him, but I have to deal with him every day..."

This confirms what we already knew, that Obama and the liberals are no friend to Israel. Yet, those of us who are evangelical Christians, know that Israel and the Jews are the apple of God's eyes. We know that Jesus was a Jew. We know that He came first to save the Jews, and then opened salvation up to those not just of the bloodline, but adopted by FAITH. We know that Armageddon will be fought over Israel. And we sense that we have entered the End Times, and it could be next week or it could be in 40 years, but it IS close...

Frankly, my pick of a presidential candidate will be over who is a friend to Israel, because if the U.S. is not, we believe God will lift His hand of protection over us. His word says, "I will bless those that bless you and curse those that curse you," in reference to His chosen ones. And we, as Americans, canNOT allow the president of our country to treat Israel (and the Jews) in this manner. Obama has been completely rude to Netanyahu during his presidency, and has been an embarressment. As I recall, there was a huge natural disaster here in the U.S. when Obama was talking about dividing up Jerusalem. God is VERY clear about that - it cannot and will not happen. And there are multiple incidents of Obama and the libs hating Jews, most recently with the Occupy Wall Street anti-Semitism on full display.

This is going to be a long election year...

"If the freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." - George Washington

Continuing with my penchant for the oppressed Chinese people lately, today's story in the news is about Chinese dissident, Ai Weiwei. Ai is an internationally acclaimed conceptual artist from Beijing who has been vocal about the Chinese's oppressive (Communist) government, and consequently they handed him a bill for $2.4 million for "unpaid taxes." Ai was detained for three months earlier this year as part of an overall crackdown on dissent. Ai believes his detention and subsequent claims of tax evasion is a way to punish him for his often-outspoken criticism of the authoritarian government.

Since he announced last week that the Beijing tax bureau is demanding that he pay the "back taxes," nearly 20,000 people have sent more than $840,000 to Ai, with some throwing money attached to fruit into his yard, and dollar bills in the form of paper airplanes. The STATE-RUN newspaper, Global Times, criticized the outpouring and warned it could be illegal. They also cited UNNAMED experts as saying he could be suspected of illegal fundraising and said the movement did not represent the larger Chinese population.

The donation campaign is rare for Chinese dissidents because of the threat of retaliation that comes with supporting high-profile government critics. But his supporters see the mammoth bill as 'government harassment.'

And so I have to ask, is this raising any red flags for anyone?? Is any of this sounding familiar here in the U.S.?? All of our Big Media is paramount to state-run media. And I also remember when Bill Clinton was president, and he wanted to harass his "dissidents," they would suddenly be audited by the IRS. And even with the current "regime," they allow the Occupy Wall Street gang to protest without all of the valid permits but the Tea Party had to procure and pay for all of the necessary red tape permits.

Wake up Americans, we are losing freedoms daily...

"And we need a little Christmas, right this very minute..."

Just a random Sunday night post to say I LOVE the time change. I LOVE it when it gets dark earlier, and we can come home on a brisk night and put an end to the work day. It just feels so cozy and holiday-feeling! And after our BRUTAL, TERRIBLE, horribly scalding hot summer here in Texas, this is so completely refreshing. You truly don't appreciate the sunshine until you've had a rainy day. And you don't appreciate these cooler days without an off-the-chart summer like we just had. Just thinking about it makes me cringe. We're still in the drought, so that part is still in distress, but having days in the 60's and 70's, well, they are heavenly.

Too, we all need a little Christmas - we need some Good Will - and we need it soon. Yes, all the stores I went in this weekend were decked out in Christmas and Christmas music was already playing but I don't think it's only for the money. I think we all need Christmas time when everyone is nicer and more generous and kinder and gentler. And we need God, wow do we need Him. And we need the time of the year where we celebrate His birth and give presents and talk about angels. So, even though it's not even Thanksgiving yet, I'm getting in the spirit early this year. And yes, I'll admit I did watch a few sappy Hallmark channel Christmas romantic shows this weekend to get me started.

Let the holidays begin!!

Funniest Commercial Ever

"Did you ever?..."

(Sigh) Was sorry to hear that Andy Rooney, of 60 minutes TV show, died. We didn't share the same political views but I did enjoy his non-political rants on occasion. It's just that all the people who have been on television my entire life are leaving, like Regis Philbin, and Andy Rooney. It's so hard watching them retire and/or die, or in this case, both. They are just familiar, and it's comforting that some things are as they always were. When my mother was fighting lung cancer almost 10 years ago, Rush Limbaugh was losing his hearing, and I thought my world was caving in. Not to say that Rush's hearing was on the same par as my mother dying, but I do remember thinking that all of my comforts and securities seemed to be pulled out from underneath me. I prayed earnestly for my mother's healing, and Rush was on my prayer list too. And although my dear mother passed, I believe Rush was spared more time for his career because of the millions, like me, that prayed. The good Lord wasn't through with Rush, or his purpose on this planet. To say these are troubling times is a huge understatement, but it does allay my fears to know there are such loyal, committed conservatives like Rush on the front lines, fighting the good fight.

My prayer is that he and others like him keep ringing freedom's bell for many more years...

What the Heck Fridays

OMG this is not a joke. This is the new ad campaign for the Boy Scouts of America produced by the global ad firm Ogilvy & Mather. The article I read said, "they seem to be positioning themselves to appeal to a younger demographic - or at least, a more ironic, hipster-minded one." With the Girl Scouts accepting a BOY a few weeks ago, may I repeat,

Has the whole world gone crazy???

"It's the start of the 4th quarter..."

Well, it's November 3rd - only one more YEAR until the next presidential election... UGH!! I'm already sick and tired of all of the bickering, and we haven't even had a primary yet. How in the WORLD will we make it one more year??!

I do remember the last presidential election, and as disappointed (and scared) as I was that the Democrats won, I DID have the thought that at least, for awhile, Big Media would finally shut up about George W. and the Republicans. But really, they never did... It's been the blame game ever since. They did get the ball and run with it, as fast as they could with their 'carte blanche.' They went at lightning speed, like after a fumble, when the football player grabs the ball and bolts for the end zone. You know, pass Obamacare to find out what it says. Or, like now, "sign the bill, sign the bill." It really is like a football game, and their team has all these surprise plays. We can't lose our energy. We can't lose our hope.

It's the start of the 4th quarter in the most important game of our life...

"I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony." - Coca Cola

Lately I have a very strong interest in China. I think my Baby Boomer generation remembers them as they were when we were growing up, but they have changed. A lot...

I read earlier this week that the really wealthy Chinese are making every effort to leave the country. They evidently have to make a huge deposit to China, and then with permission, they can leave. Seems one of the top reasons they desire to leave is a poor education for their children, but they are also upset with the moral decay.

I guess we're more alike than we thought...

"Has the whole world gone crazy?"

Once in a while a story comes along that is SO infuriating, that I have to immediately comment. I read of one today. It's a couple from California that just moved to Honolulu. The wife, Nicole, is 28 years old and 7.5 months pregnant, and the husband is 33 years old and they have a 2 year old daughter. The wife is also former Air Force sergeant. This past weekend they had just moved to an apartment in Honolulu and needed to go to the grocery store but got lost. They ended up at Safeway Grocery, and were hungry by this time. They shopped and started to check out with their $50 worth of groceries. They had eaten 2 sandwiches while shopping, and were saving the wrapper to pay for the $5 total for those. They forgot to pay for the sandwiches as they checked out, and were taken upstairs to be questioned. Embarressed, they offered to pay for the sandwiches but were told they were going to be arrested for shoplifting (for stolen sandwich - $5) and were handcuffed, searched AND they took her 2 year old daughter away with child welfare services. They were driven separately to jail and booked (for $5.) They were in shock and the mother was so upset she threw up that they took her daughter who had never spend the night away from them. The next morning they called a lawyer, who suggested they call the media to get their child quicker. They did, 18 hours later.

What kind of a nation have we become? Are we in a FREAKING COMMUNIST COUNTRY NOW??? I will NEVER shop at a Safeway again, much less ENTER their property. To be arrested over $5?? And offering to pay?? 

Good God help us...